So, I assume this applies to any carrier that has throttled or capped data. With Sprint being the only carrier to offer this supposed unlimited data. There may be some motive behind the throttling data but, I think mostly it's because of data congestion issues. Practically every carrier, regional or nationwide has deployed data throttling or capping for that purpose. People tend to get carried away with the use of unlimited data and if only 25% of users were data hogs, I believe it would cause issues for the other 75% of users. Keep in mind, the majority of users use data, too. A

As for the $10 a gig plan, consider this. If you absolutely need to have full data speed, would you rather have throttled or the ability to pay for an extra gif or two. For example, if you travel a lot and need it for work or online school for instance, I wouldn't want my data throttled and that's it. Besides, the plan is to discourage abuse of the data plan. On another point, how will building out the network more help, in the long run? It will be temporary and at some point, we will be right back on this forum debating this same issue. The issue isn't in carriers increasing data or band with. Believe it or not, bandwidth is not an unlimited resource. The problem remains on how technology can more efficiently use the bandwidth we have.

You still haven't explained how an extra $10 magically gives them more bandwidth than they had before? IF bandwidth is indeed the consideration, then they'd enforce a cap on speed, PERIOD. It's like distance racing a Mustang and a Focus. You give each 100 gallons of fuel, and say, Go! Which goes father? Depends on how fast each is traveling. The Mustang will go just as far, on the same amount of fuel: you'll just have to drive it slower. Now, would you rather drive 80 from NYC to Needles, only to drive 15 mph the rest of the way? Or would you prefer to drive 55 the entire distance? Hope that analogy helps.

I believe I did answer your question in the other post I put up because, I accidentally posted before finishing. But, answering your question using your analogy, because the technology or engines are totally different, would probably still get further in the Focus than the Mustang at 80mph. If I absolutely have to drive 80mph using the Mustang, then I have to expect to pay more in gas's along the way. The same for phones. If you absolutely have to stay tethered to a laptop everyday and all day, streaming music and or video, maybe downloading some of the same, that's just on the casual use side. You would have to expect to be throttled at some point. That's just one example. People tend to use their phones n unreasonable ways, when they have ...(continues)

Vmac39, I might agree with you if it was like 20GB or more but they're going after people using a hair over 2gb and this is for a so called unlimited plan which costs $30.00. If one signs now they'd not be throttled and have 3gb included. This is not the way to treat one's long term customers. And yes, I do use AT&T, not have had a problem as of yet, and this action sux.

Just by chance, I am one of those long term customers who have the old unlimited data plan. I've gone over 2gigs on a few occasions and I know I've gone over 5gigs, at least once and I've never received a text or have I been throttled because of it. So, from my experience and my experience alone I would be not inclined to believe that they are going after the ones who use an excess of 5-10gigs on a monthly basis. Don't have any data to support that theory but, as I said, this is based on my personal experience.

If there are any other long time customers of ATT who still have the unlimited data plan, please tell of your experiences.

they are throttling existing Unlimited plans....not capped plans. some of the top 5% of users are using their phone as their primary form of internet...while most may use less than 2gb per month (even those on Unlimited plans) , some of these people are using that and even more per day...

think of torrents, streaming, downloads...the list goes on.

while the markup on data / texts is outrageous to begin with, it's highly unlikely that this is aimed to save money or make more .. rather it would be to reduce network congestion and insure that everyone recieves the same quality access to a network that they all pay for.

this is the reason why wireless carriers throttle the data speeds!other people paying 30$ and only get 3gb data! if they use 3.1gb in a month, they will charge another 10$ !you "unlimited" people should be happy att didnt cancel your unlimited plan and pay extra like everyone else on a 3gb plan.

Jay is right. Again, throttling amounts of data, instead of speed, is ignorant of what bandwidth is. If AT&T gave everyone unlimited, but capped their speeds to 1.5-3 mbps, they'd have no congestion issues. Dollars don't magically give you more bandwidth, so paying more is irrelevant.

using your phone is one thing...using it as your primary source of internet, relying solely on the network to download/seed torrents, stream television shows and other extremely data intensive activities is a whole other arguement.

Gyms oversell their memberships, expecting more people will sign up than actually use the network. For awhile, this is how cellular data was engineered. Nobody with a Pocket PC used much data because the process was so miserable.

However, since the iPhone, data actually became relevant. AT&T got hit hard with heavy data usage. To some extent, it is necessary.

But they've had 5 years to prepare for this. I cut them a break in '09 because of the massive growth surge, but now that Verizon Wireless has the iPhone, they're out of excuses. AT&T's network is overloaded because they didn't invest properly in it.

I have an idea that is slightly different. Instead of the current way of billing data with data caps/throttles, I think that all carriers should charge a flat rate for unlimited data per line (i.e. $20 per line). Then the customer can add on higher speeds based on what they really want/need, which would apply to all lines on the account.

For example, $10 for speeds up to 5mpbs, $15 for speeds up to 10mbps (obviously making $15 the "sweet spot"), $25 for speeds up to 20+mbps . The customer would not have to pay the speed boost for each line, but just once for the whole account (being like a family data plan). Even though I don't like it, they could even charge extra for mobile hotspot... I have not put too much thought into the actual...(continues)

Well I disagree...Instead of using 5mbps, etc, they can give it names such as basic, ultra, advanced, whatever, to indicate how fast it is. Isn't this similar to what cable companies do with their broadband service? They charge based on speed, not actual usage.

Or do you think it is easier to continue to answer "what is a megabyte?/ how much can I use in a megabyte?" to a customer when trying to explain 2MB, 5 MB, etc? I think customers can relate more to speed than they can how much is in a megabyte.

Well, you know, I worked for 3 different wireless companies within the last 11 years; so stop trying to be so condescending....

I am not claiming it is the greatest idea in the world, but I dont agree that it is so hard to explain either. Just answer this: why is it easy enough for cable companies to explain speed for broadband (because, the plans they sell are based on speed not quantity) but so difficult for a wireless associate to do it? I rather explain speed any day, comparing it to home computer speed (so that customers can easily relate), than to try to explain what a megabyte/gigabyte will cover...

But oh well, I was just offering an idea. I dont like how you were just so negative and condescending on how you addressed it, ...(continues)